President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that Boeing’s contract to build the next Air Force One should be canceled because of cost overruns.
“Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!”
Boeing won the contract in January 2015. But it wasn’t much of a competition. Boeing’s 747-8 was the only plane made in the United States that could meet the requirements for the presidential aircraft while also being “consistent with the national public interest,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a statement at the time.
She insisted that the Pentagon “will insist upon program affordability through cost-conscious procurement practices.”
The Air Force and Boeing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group, said Trump’s tweet was “completely nonsensical and based on exactly nothing. But it’s very difficult to adjudicate on complicated program management and military requirements questions with Twitter as your medium.”
“Air Force One has unique communications, safety and self-protection features so that the president can function under the most trying circumstances – like nuclear war,” Loren Thompson, a defense consultant said. “The price tag is driven by the demands of the mission.”
The plane is expected to reach its initial operational capability by 2023.
Featured Image: USA Today
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Christian Davenport
